I SPENT 25 YEARS AS A TEACHER. Mostly, I taught science, and for many years I taught a very specific, hands-on, lab-based class. As most teachers do, I endured countless “jokes” about not working in the summer and getting off work at 3 o’clock. But the jokesters never accounted for the hours I spent every night grading tests or preparing for the next day’s experiments. Why, one night I even spent a few extra hours trying to catch a snake for my terrarium in the classroom.
As proof that not everything liked my cooking though, I couldn’t get that snake to eat. I caught bugs, rodents, and everything in between, and he wouldn’t eat! Not long after, some of the kids and I were out on
